Jupiter May Not be Earth's Planetary Shield, But it May Have Helped Seed Life

Could Jupiter be a planetary shield? Many have thought that this large planet functioned as a shield for Earth against comet impacts. Now, though, scientists are rethinking this assumption.

In this latest study, the researchers simulated the evolution of tens of thousands of particles in the gaps between the Jovian planets for up to 100 million years. This revealed that the widely reported shield role attributed to Jupiter is incorrect.

So what does the simulation show? It reveals that Jupiter teams with Saturn to kick a significant fraction of the particles into the inner solar system and into orbits that actually cross Earth's path. In theory, this could have allowed for the delivery of volatile materials from the outer solar system to help with the creation of life on our planet. In fact, it may be possible to target solar systems with one or more planets similar to Jupiter to hunt for life in other systems.

"In an unprecedented effort to solve the riddle as to whether Jovian bodies shield habitable planets from impacts catastrophic to life, Dr. Grazier presents a modeling study that speaks to the incredible complexity of planetismal evolution in the solar system," said Sherry Cady, one of the researchers, in a news release. "In this paper, we learn that the overly simplistic 'Jupiter as shield' concept is a thing of the past, and future research in this area will require the continued use of the kinds of robust simulation strategies so effectively employed in Dr. Grazier's work."

The findings are published in the journal Astrobiology.

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